And we really wonder why we are in a financial crisis!?

Can someone please help me logically justify the rate of return on “investing” $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq? Is that really what the oil reserve in Iraq is valued at?  I assume more if you include inflation over the past 5 years.  WTF.

For more insane statitics from US Senate and Congressional Services please read this article http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

On a related topic; GM, Ford, Chrysler are on the brink of collapse and along with it millions of jobs resulting in the ripple effect.  I know Micheal Moore can be a bit out of this world at times but he brings up a valid point in his appearance on Larry King Live .  I think he couldn’t be more correct in comparing Roosevelt’s WWII era policy to Obama and our financial crisis. The need to overhaul the auto industry into a mass transit, light rail and hybrid manufacturing powerhouse is really the only solution (status quo is obviously not cutting it).  This will be a real chance for the US and so be it the world to take our next step in financial and political evolution a.k.a the Synergism Hypothesis. Could this be the end of capitalism?

Will humans live to see 10G or even 20G wireless technology???

From the creation of the internet by Tim Burners Lee in 1989 to the latest technology running in 3G wireless networks, the world has literally seen what some call the greatest human invention of all time grow up right before their eyes.  (Always funny to think about what work must have been like before 1990… no email, no social networks, no research… weird)  Now the next logical step in the evolution of the internet is 4G wireless technology that will bridge the trillions of wireless devices that the world will be using.  Check out the latest project from the EU called MAGNET Project http://www.gizmag.com/magnet-beyond-project-4g-wireless-world/10380/.  How much further can wireless technology go?

Top 10 Up-and-Coming Internet Products

I always enjoy reading/viewing articles about concept technology (especially car designs). I thought this article from Lifehacker was interesting highlighting some of the new tech coming to the internet.  Top 10 Up-and-Coming Products

Too Much Texting

I always find it annoying watching someone swirve on the road only to find them texting on their cell phone as I pass by, my fist waving angrily out the window. This whole texting revolution has gone too far in my mind. The number of car accidents in the UK alone attributed to texting on a cell phone is uncanny. The fact that London is installing foam around some of it’s metropolitain street posts due to people walking into them as their heads are down, concentrating on their lovers text message request for a couple of limes from the local supermarket, is in itself absurd. However, last weekend a friend of mine told me about something he had seen online that blew his mind (mind you he was texting, eating McDonalds, smoking and driving the car at the same time/watching a movie). I wont describe it as the video is worth a thousand words in itself … you have to check it. See below.

What are we becoming?

How to Get Through Life 101 to 448 (If only it exsisted…)

I came across this article on lifehack.org, “8 Essential Skills They Didn’t Teach you in School” and I feel that readers and contributors to this blog will be able to add valuable skills of their own they think should be on the list or further links to the 8 topics… but that is because I assume everyone reading this blog is smarter than the average bear 🙂

1. How to make people like you and network
2. How to speed read (spreednews.com) and the power of audio books
3. How to set goals and manage time
4. How to read a financial statement
5. How to negotiate, read contracts and not get taken advantage of
6. How to save and invest
7. How to be sucessful in life
8. How to spread an idea and basic marketing

The Beauty of the iPhone

Some of my close friends may know that I recently purchased an iPhone. Although I have been having some major issues with call quality and microphone consistency, I did get to really see the beauty of it today.

I am sitting in the doctors office right now (don’t worry nothing serious). Usually I sit here bored, twiddling my fingers and reading old magazine articles that mean nothing to me. However, in the past 45 minutes of waiting I have caught up on all my email, made a number of calls, read all my unread news articles, found an article I want to write about tomorrow, checked the baseball scores from the weekend and am writing this post to you all now.

This truly is productivity at it’s finest. The iPhone is an exceptionally verstile machine and for that reason, I call it a thing of beauty.

The Social Surge: Keeping up with Web 2.0 is a job on its own.

Twitter, Facebook, del.icio.us, LinkedIn, MySpace, Blogs, NewsCloud, elgg, Sharepoint, PeopleAggregator, and on and on. What do these social sites have in common, other than the fashionable Web 2.0-ish way of taking away the space between words? They increase confusion for small business owners who are looking to get a respectable online presence and manage their team.

It is often asked what the value is in creating and maintaining a social profile on sites such as Facebook or MySpace, or why purchasing monthly packages for platforms like PeopleAggregator or Central desktop can benefit a small business. Well, the answer is easy especially for low fee sites. These online collaboration tools allow users the capacity to create and maintain content across a range of websites and services – and also use them as their central service to manage all that content while connecting with others. Central Desktop, for example, offers simple to use online collaboration tools for business teams and there is no technical knowledge or programming experience required.

If you are looking into a fee based online collaboration, there are four things to consider before signing up:

1. How well you can use a dashboard to manage projects
2. How well you can host online visual or audio conferences
3. How the service will make your sharing and revising of documents that much easier
4. How quickly your team can adopt, adapt, and maintain their updates and shared calendars.

If you are looking into creating a presence with social networking and viral marketing through free online sources like Facebook, you must consider the following:

1. How much time it will take to maintain your social site
2. How to control content and spammers
3. How to promote your business/service effectively so not to spam others
4. How you can create a credible existence while increasing your referral network, i.e. creating and sustaining a reputable brand
5. What groups to join and how you will use them to your benefit.

Be wise and define your parameters. What platform is your friend? And which is your enemy? Wal-Mart’s exploitation of Facebook is not a model to follow. Their use of Facebook as a sales gimmick angered college students across the U.S. Before setting up a social site or purchasing a monthly package, create a strategy and determine your goals. There is nothing worse than spammers writing hate messages on your wall for all to read. And remember, keeping up with social networks is a job on its own. If you don’t have the time, then don’t do it or hire someone else to do it for you.